Mimamsa is a philosophical school whose main questions are. Diversity of philosophical schools of ancient India

Various schools of philosophy were born on the basis of different points of view on the eternal questions of existence. Each founder of his teaching, trying to prove the correctness of his worldview, surrounded himself with students and followers who supported and developed the philosophy of this particular school. Sometimes the teachings of different schools literally contradicted each other, but, based on the laws of the same philosophy and logic, each point of view had the right to exist.

The Origin of Philosophy in Ancient India

The most ancient studies studied to date are the philosophical studies of Ancient India. Their origin dates back to the 2nd millennium BC. These teachings were based on the study of the surrounding world, human relations, everything related to the nature of existence human body and his soul. But the research did not have a solid scientific basis; rather, they related to logical conclusions from what was seen and felt. These were the first steps towards scientific teachings and explanations of various phenomena in human life.

What are the Vedas?

We can say that all world philosophy has its roots going back centuries and is based on the research of Ancient India. Let's consider important features philosophy of Ancient India in more detail.

The preserved treasures of Indian philosophy, written in Sanskrit, have survived to this day. This work has a common title "Veda", i.e. knowledge, vision. The collection includes various spells, rituals, invocations, prayers, etc., addressed to the forces of nature, and is also an attempt to interpret the human world around us from a philosophical point of view. The teaching explains people’s first ideas about their moral and moral essence in life.

The Vedas are divided into four parts, which are worth talking about in more detail:

1. First part - Samhitas, which means hymns, she the oldest from all parts.
2. Second part - Brahmins- ritual texts, on which religion is based or philosophy of Brahmanism, which had the main power and authority before the emergence of Buddhism.
3. The third part - Aranyaki (forest books)- this part gives recommendations and sets the rules of life for people who choose hermit lifestyle.
4. Fourth part - Upanishads- which means sitting at the feet of a teacher and receiving intimate, secret knowledge - philosophical part of the Vedas. In it, a new character Purusha appears, who appears to be omniscient and omnipotent, the soul of the world, the cosmic mind, that is, in our understanding, an omnipotent god. Next he will receive the name Atman, from whom the human student receives knowledge.

All schools of philosophy of Ancient India are based on the Vedas, hence the division of society into four varnas, or, as they are also called, castes - brahmans, kshatriyas, vaishyas and sudras. Varna is the status of a certain group of people in society; to be more precise, it is a shell, color, color, cover. The right to belong to a particular caste is determined by birth. Each caste is engaged in a certain type of activity.

• Brahmins (color white)- This is the highest caste, it deals only with mental work.
• Kshatriyas (color red)- their destiny is military affairs.
• Vaishya (color yellow)- engaged only in handicrafts and agriculture.
• Shudras (color black)- this is the lowest varna, doing “menial” work.

Only men of the first three castes had access to knowledge; the fourth caste, as well as all women, were excluded from knowledge. Their dignity was valued on a par with animals.

Main schools of philosophy of Ancient India

As can be seen from the development of history, the division of society is also based on a unique philosophy that comes from the ancient Vedas. With the development of society and its division into castes, currents appear that have shaped Orthodox and unorthodox schools of Indian philosophy. Schools of these directions appear, which adhere to the support or refutation of the Vedas. The division into these schools of philosophical knowledge occurs in the 6th century. BC. — this was led to by the development of society, the formation of new economic relations, the moral improvement of man, and the emergence of new knowledge.

Let us briefly consider how the two schools of different philosophical beliefs differ.

Orthodox schools(astika - violent) remained faithful to the philosophy of the Vedas. These included Vedanta, Sanhya, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Yoga and Vaisheshika. Adherents of these movements are those who believe in the continuation of life after leaving for another world. It is interesting to consider each direction of Orthodox schools in more detail.

1. Vedanta or the completion of the Vedas, the school is divided into two directions “advanta” and “visishta-advanta”. The philosophical meaning of the first direction is that there is nothing but God, everything else is just an illusion. The second direction - Vishishta-Advaita, preaches three realities of which the world consists - God, soul and matter.
2. Sankhya— this school teaches recognition of the material and spiritual principles. Material values ​​are in constant development, the spiritual principle is eternal. The material goes away with the death of a person, but the spiritual principle continues life.
3. Nyaya- a school whose highest spiritual mentor is the god Ishvara . The teaching of the school is a conclusion from sensation, analogy and the testimony of others.
4. Mimamsa- the school is based on the principles of logic, reasonable explanation, it recognizes spiritual and material existence.
5. Vaisesika- this school bases its principles on the knowledge that everyone around a person, like himself, consists of indivisible particles that have eternal existence and are controlled by the world soul, i.e. God.
6. Yoga- This is the most famous direction of all schools. It is based on the principles of dispassion, contemplation and detachment from the material. Meditation leads to achieving harmonious liberation from suffering and reunification with God. Yoga is loyal to all existing schools and their teachings.

Unorthodox schools(nastika - atheist), who do not take the ancient Vedas as the basis of their philosophy. These include Buddhism, Charvaka Lokayata, Ved Jainism. Adherents of this school are considered atheists, but the Jaya and Buddhist schools still profess astika, as they believe in the continuation of life after death.

1. Buddhism— the philosophy of this school is proclaimed the official religion. The founder is Siddhartha, who was nicknamed Buddha, i.e. enlightened. The philosophy of the school is based on the path of enlightenment, the achievement of nirvana. This is a state of complete peace and equanimity, liberation from the causes of suffering and pain, from the external world and thoughts associated with it.
2. Charvaka (Lokayata)— the school is based on the wisdom of the teachings that everything that exists consists of air, water, fire and earth, i.e. four elements, in various combinations. After death, when these elements disintegrate, they join their counterparts in nature. The school denies the existence of any other world except the material one.
3. Jainism— the school received its name from the nickname of its founder, Jin, who lived in the 4th century BC. The main thesis is belief in Tattva. This is the essence, the material for creating the entire structure of the world - the soul (jiva) and everything that is not it (ajiva) - the material surrounding a person. The soul is eternal, and it has no creator, it has always existed and it is omnipotent. The purpose of the teaching is the way of life of a person who has renounced base passions - complete asceticism and obedience to a teacher who has conquered his own passions and is able to teach this to others.

Brahmanism

Changes taking place in India with the advent of nomadic tribes who called themselves arias, destroyed the usual ways of life of society. With time the texts of the sacred “Vedas” have become incomprehensible to the majority from people. There remained a small group of initiates who could interpret them - brahmins. These changes date back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.

Arias brought a new world of philosophical teachings and ideas into Indian culture. They had their own gods who demanded sacrifices.

Over the centuries, Vedic philosophy acquired new knowledge and became more complex with new rituals. Brahmins continued to support and develop new forms of religious philosophy. They proclaimed the main god Prajapati - the Master of creatures and the Lord of creations. Rituals with sacrifices became an everyday reality. Philosophy divided the world into two - the world of gods and ordinary people. Brahmin priests placed themselves on a par with the ancient gods and their teachings. But the Vedas were still considered the fundamental basis of the new philosophy.

In the process of social development, there was a rethinking of philosophical movements, the foundations of which were laid in the mists of time. Next they became the basis for the emergence of new religions, such as Hinduism(a continuation of Brahmanism mixed with Vedic philosophy and local religions) and Buddhism.

As we now know, Buddhism from the philosophical school grew to such heights that he became one of the three world religions and spread to the countries of the East and Southeast and Central Asia.

Man's desire for knowledge, which subsequently leads to the development and progress of society, was taken from ancient philosophical treatises. Today people are also searching for answers to the eternal questions of humanity, not suspecting that they are repeating the path of many generations who have tried to understand the meaning of life.

Prerequisites for the formation of ancient Indian philosophy. The fundamental ideas of the worldview of the ancient Hindus: 1. the human soul is immortal, it is doomed to eternal rebirth: 2. eternal rebirth leads to eternal suffering; 3. The goal of any sage is to find a way out of the circle of rebirths.

These ideas were outlined in the Vedas, ancient mythological treatises of the Hindus. Vedic literature has evolved over a long historical period. (comprised of 9 centuries, from 1500 to 600 BC). During this period, a class society is formed with developed agriculture, crafts, trade, a social structure and hierarchization containing four main varnas. The highest is the varna of brahmins (clerics, monks, priests), further, kshatriyas (warriors and representatives of the former tribal government), vaishyas (farmers, artisans and merchants), the lowest is shudras (a mass of direct producers). In the future, this system continues to develop and a complex structure of castes is formed.

Traditionally, Vedic literature is divided into several groups of texts. First of all, these are the four Vedas (literally: knowledge). First part – Samhitas, which consist of rigveda (hymns in honor of the gods), atharvaveda (spells), self-veda (chants), glajurveda (writing rituals). The Samhitas summarize the ideas of the ancient Hindus about the creation of the world, about the life of the universe, about the gods. It describes that the world is huge, bright and inhabited by divine beautiful giants. In this part of the Vedas, the gods of three spheres are glorified: Indra - the god of thunder; Sinkya is the god of fire: Mithras is the god of the sun. The Samhitas describe the lives of gods and people. The gods communicate with each other, make friends, love, and have children. In addition, they quarrel and fight. This book describes the great war of Mahabarata. Second part - Brahmins, is a collection of ritual texts, the most important part of which is the Shatapathabrahmana (brahmana of a hundred paths). Third part – Aranyaki, this is a book for monks living in the forests, for hermits. Part Four – Upanishads, this is the philosophical part of the Vedas, it is in it that the transition from mythology to philosophy takes place. Previously it was argued that the world was born from the egg of a huge animal with the help of the gods, but the Upanishads say that the world came from wind, air and earth. Ancient Indian spiritual culture is divided into three periods: 1. early Vedic; 2. Upanishad period; 3. the period of established philosophical schools. With the advent of the philosophical method of understanding the world, various philosophical schools and directions were formed in ancient India. Two main directions can be distinguished: 1. orthodox, which includes philosophical schools - Vedanta, Vaisheshika, yoga, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Samkhya, etc.; 2. unorthodox, it can include philosophical schools - Jainism, Buddhism, Charvaka Lokayata, etc.

Orthodox directions of ancient Indian philosophy. Philosophical schools that accept the authority of the Vedas are considered the orthodox schools of ancient Indian philosophy.

SANKHYA is one of the orthodox schools. Worldview – there are two principles: the principle of Brahman (the absolute unity of everything or the universal) and the principle of Atman (the individual multiple principle or soul). At the base of the world lies absolutely one thing - brahma, which represents the unity of Atman and Brahman. The world originated from two fundamental principles: purusha and prokriti. Purusha is the spiritual principle, the world soul, the animating fire or energy. It consists of an infinite number of spiritual atoms - dhari (dharma). Life is the movement of the Dharis or their agitation. Taking life into your own hands means calming that anxiety. Prokriti is a material principle, substance. Prokriti is divided into three parts or gunas: 1. Sattva is the bright beginning leading to joy, happiness, goodness; 2. Rajas is a spontaneous principle leading to action; Tamas is a dark principle leading to laziness, stupidity, and evil. These three gunas are not visible, but when combined with dhari in different proportions, they create a sensually accessible existence and the law of connection that connects these parts into unity. This law is called karma, it arises from the sum of good and evil deeds, arises from within being, from its activity and activity. A person consists of two parts, united by karma, which determines not only today’s life and destiny of a person, but also the transition from one physical life to another, i.e., from one circle of samsara (the wheel of life or the circle of rebirths) to another. The main goal of Sankhya philosophy is to free a person from the need for rebirth and karma and achieve a state of bliss (moksha). Sankhya had a significant influence on the development of other philosophical systems, especially yoga and Buddhism.

VAISHESHIKA is an ancient Indian philosophical school that does not deny the authority of the Vedas, but was formed on independent grounds. Its creator is Canada (Uluka), who probably lived in the 2nd century. BC e. Vaisheshika, like the Nyaya close to her, recognizes the liberation of the individual “I” as the ultimate goal of human life. At the same time, the main attention in it is focused on the problems of cosmology: the theory of the creation and destruction of the universe (world cycle) has been actively developed, and an exposition of the atomic concept of the universe is given. The whole world and all objects of knowledge are brought under seven categories; substance (dravya), quality (guna), action (karma), universality (samanya), particularity (vishesha), inherence (samavaya) and non-existence (abhava). There are nine types of substances: earth, water, fire, air, ether (akasha), time, space, soul and mind (manas). Quality, which exists only in substance, has 24 types. The action, which is also characteristic only of substances, has five types. There are four types of non-existence. The Nyaya philosophical system is close to Vaisheshika, with which it later formed a single school.

MIMANSA is one of the six orthodox ancient Indian philosophical systems based on the authority of the Vedas. It arose around the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. Initially, its main goal was to defend and justify the correct performance of rituals. Later, the main task became the study of cognition. Mimamsa affirms the reliability of all knowledge in the presence of normal conditions (healthy feelings, the presence of objects, etc.). Particular importance is attached to the combination of knowledge with faith and the absence of doubt. Among the sources of knowledge are perception, logical inference, comparison, evidence (or authority), postulation, non-perception. Philosophers of the Mimamsa school accept the reality of the material world, as well as the immortal soul and gods (but deny supreme god, who created the world); consider the law of karma to be universal; They teach about the special potential energy that arises when performing rituals, accumulates and manifests itself favorably in the future. The Mimamsa theory of knowledge influenced the development of other schools, in particular Vedanta.

NYAYA is one of classical schools Indian philosophy, created by the sage Gotama, apparently at the beginning of the century. e. He does not deny the authority of the Vedas, but builds his teaching on independent foundations. Philosophers of this school, like representatives of other systems of Indian philosophy, consider the main goal of human life to be the deliverance of the “I” from attachment to the body, to feelings and to objects. Liberation (moksha), meaning the absolute cessation of suffering, in their opinion, becomes possible through correct knowledge of reality. Therefore, supporters of this school attach special importance to speculation based on logic and its laws. Nyaya recognizes four independent sources of knowledge: perception, inference, comparison and proof (evidence). Knowledge based on these sources is recognized as reliable. Cognition based on memory, doubt, error, or hypothetical argument is considered unreliable. Nyaya classifies in detail the sources of reliable knowledge, develops the doctrine of supersensible perception and its types, and offers solutions to a number of other important logical problems, which gives this system exceptional significance in the history of philosophy and science.

VEDANTA (the completion of the Vedas) is the most famous and influential system of ancient Indian philosophy, the basis of Hinduism, one of the six classical systems of Indian philosophy, guided by the authority of the Vedas. Its main provisions are set out in the Brahma Sutra of Badarayana (II-III centuries) - aphorisms systematizing philosophical teachings mainly the Upanishads - and in the commentaries on these sutras compiled later: Alvaita-Vedanta by Shankara (late 8th-9th centuries) and Vishishta-Advaita by Ramanuja (11th - 12th centuries), Vedanta recognizes the only source of all things as Absolute Reality, Brahman. The spiritual origin of each individual, his Atman. The material universe is the result of the action of maya, the material cause, upon which Brahman acts like a magnet, stimulating its activity. Therefore, the created material world is just an illusion. A true sage strives, having cognized his Atman, his inner “I,” to merge with Brahman and thus achieve peace. Vedanta played a leading role among the orthodox systems of Indian philosophy and had a significant influence on the development of philosophical and religious thought in India in the 19th-20th centuries. (teachings of Vivekananda, Rammohan Raya Ghose, Ramakrishna, Radhzkrishnan, etc.).

YOGA- one of the six directions in Indian religious and philosophical thought, based on the authority of the Vedas. It was formed around the turn of the IV-III centuries. BC e. The design of classical yoga is associated with the name of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (2nd century AD). According to philosophical views, yoga is adjacent to Samkhya, but unlike it, it recognizes the existence of the Supreme God, whom it considers the highest object of reflection for concentration and self-knowledge. The goal of yoga, like Samkhya, is liberation (moksha). The main thing in the yoga system is practice, a complex set of techniques and methods, the mastery of which requires ascetic discipline, strict self-control, constant training, the ability to put your body under the control of the will - a complex that ensures entering a state of contemplation (meditation) and acquiring true knowledge . The technique of yoga as a method of concentration and acquisition of true knowledge was used by ancient ascetics and followers of all directions of Indian thought. In modern times, the most prominent representative of yoga was Vivekananda. Modern proponents of yoga do not consider adherence to a particular religion to be a decisive moment and do not aim to impose their belief system on the student. The main thing is to help master methods that would allow the student to develop his cognitive abilities, expand his consciousness to complete mastery of the intuitive level and an even higher spiritual level.

Unorthodox directions of ancient Indian philosophy (Buddhism) Philosophical schools that do not accept the authority of the Vedas are considered heterodox schools of ancient Indian philosophy.

Jainism is an Indian religious and philosophical doctrine that took shape simultaneously with Buddhism in the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. as an ideological counterbalance to caste, aristocratically closed Brahmanism, denying the authority of the Vedas and as a teaching open to all segments of the population. The wandering preacher Vardhamana, nicknamed Mahavira ("Great Hero") and Jina ("Conqueror"), is considered its founder. Jain philosophy rejects the existence of God, affirms the reality of the external world, and believes in the presence of many primary substances. At the same time, spiritual reality, the soul and living things in general (false) are recognized as higher than inanimate substances (ajiva). Therefore, one of the main features of Jainism is compassion for all beings and the principle of ahimsa - not harming the living. Karma (as the totality of all tendencies generated by the life of the soul in its past incarnations) is considered the basis on which coarser matter "sticks". The goal is to get rid of karma, free the jiva from matter and achieve liberation (moksha). In the center of the teaching is the problem of personality and the substantiation of the ways of its transition from an imperfect being to a perfect one - nirvana. This requires true faith, true knowledge, righteous life. Members of the Jain community (lay people) must fulfill five basic vows: do not harm the living, do not steal, do not lie, do not commit adultery, do not acquire. Many additional self-restraints are also observed. Particularly strict rules of life are observed by ascetic monks. Jainism has so far retained significant influence in India (several million adherents), mainly among merchants and artisans (agriculture involving the killing of living beings is unacceptable to Jains).

BUDDHISM - the doctrine created by Prince Siddhartha Gautama (623-544 BC) consists of three key ideas: 1) non-violence; 2) reverence for any form of life; 3) getting rid of passions - the causes of suffering. The prince, endowed with physical virtues, intellectual perfection, wealth, power, was "doomed" to an idle and carefree life, but one day Gautama saw human suffering and the path of salvation - the path of asceticism. Gautama becomes a hermit, trying to find a way to save humanity from suffering.

He creates a new teaching, formulating the “four noble truths of Buddhism”:

1) life is suffering (birth, illness, death, separation from a loved one, lack of what you want, i.e. fivefold attachment to earthly things - all human life, including pleasure, is suffering);

2) the cause of suffering is passion, human desire (Buddha said: “Avoid frivolity, shun passion and pleasure”; it is fundamentally important that the source of suffering is the desire for life itself;

3) in order to get rid of suffering, one must get rid of desires by achieving nirvana (nirvana is a state of overcoming suffering, the absence of suffering. Its essence is the absence of desires, passions, withdrawal from the world; complete peace, absolute impenetrability to desires and passions);

4) the path leading to nirvana is the eightfold path of salvation:

1. True view or mastery of the four noble truths of Buddhism.

2. True intention: accepting these truths as a personal life program.

3. True speech: abstaining from lies, from words not related to a moral purpose.

4. True actions: violence, non-harm to living things

5. True way of life: unfolding true actions into a line of behavior.

6. True effort: constant wakefulness and vigilance, for bad thoughts may return.

7. True mindfulness: constantly remember that everything is temporary.

8. True concentration: spiritual self-immersion of a person renounced from the world. The teachings of Buddhism required the creation of a carefully developed philosophy and a special logical system (this is the only logic in the world that does not go back to the teachings of Aristotle - navya-nyaya logic or “new method”). The fundamental philosophical encyclopedia of Buddhism was the treatise "Abhidharmakosha", written in the 5th century. Vasubandhu. It reinterprets the main concepts of Buddhism (the four noble truths, the law of cause and effect, the law of moral retribution, the path of salvation, rebirth, nirvana, etc.) based on the theory of the elements of existence (dharma). Vasubandhu's treatise is distinguished by its clear formulation of questions, terminological certainty, logic, subtle analysis and evidence. It can be compared in its fundamentality with the works of Aristotle and Hegel. Dharma is an element of being, a psychophysical component that makes up human personality. Dharma is material and immaterial. As a rule, dharma exists only in the present moment, although its emergence from non-existence and disappearance into non-existence also presupposes some form of its life. There is an infinite number of dharmas, the ceaseless emergence of which for one moment constitutes the material and immaterial world of human existence and personality. Dharmas are divided into “clouded” and “unclouded”; this made it possible to develop a technique for a person to liberate himself from “darkened” elements and acquire favorable conditions on the path to achieving nirvana, which is interpreted by Vasubandhu as a form of non-existence, the opposite of being. Human existence is a momentary flickering of myriads of dharmas arising from and passing into non-existence, each of which has four characteristics: arising, abiding, aging and destruction.

Buddhist understanding of karma: 1) volitional efforts and purposeful actions accompanying volitional efforts; 2) the will of the universe, the universal force that supports current life and models its forms in various worlds, vital effort. The first point was insisted on by supporters of the Hinayana ("small vehicle" or " narrow path salvation" - only the path of a monk), on the second - the followers of Mahayana ("great chariot", or "broad path of salvation", when the enlightened one can personally save himself, but remains V a sea of ​​suffering to save others). The decisive impact of karma occurs after the physical death of a person. It is at the moment of death - birth that karma is in accordance with accumulated virtues and vices real life must “shake up” all the dharma components of the personality, distribute merit not only for the upcoming existence, but also determine the intensity of their impact in the subsequent life. At this point, karma must determine the place of birth, parents, country, race, appearance, character, state of consciousness, etc. The concept of karma is designed to ensure moral responsibility for one's actions, words and thoughts. It is not only universal in nature, but also “is something fatal in the sense that a person cannot avoid the consequences of his actions.” On the other hand, Buddhism somewhat limits the actions of karma and provides a person with a certain freedom to consciously choose his actions: actions and actions are probably predetermined by karma, but a person still has the opportunity to commit them with varying degrees of goodness or sinfulness of thought. That is, we can talk about the existence of a certain area for the manifestation of some free will. The most general condition for its implementation will be the direction of the effort of consciousness in the direction of favorable, unfavorable or neutral. This approach allows us to translate theory into the plane of practical human activity and set the direction of movement precisely towards the Buddhist ethical ideal. Buddhism denies God - the creator of the universe and the creator of living beings. Moreover, he denies the human soul. The transfer of moral responsibility from God to man himself was important point in the development of the doctrine of man in Indian philosophy. Man in Buddhism became the creator of his own destiny and himself.

CHARVAKA- materialistic teaching of ancient and medieval India. It is often identified with lokayata (literally: teaching “directed towards this world”), of more ancient origin, which arose around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The writings of the supporters of these teachings have not survived. Sources for the study of materialist doctrines in Indian thought are the texts of other philosophical schools that polemicize with them. Charvaka (like Lokayata) denies the authority of the Vedas, the existence of God and the soul, the other world, the law of karma and considers only that which can be perceived by the senses to be existing and knowable. The Lokayata established the principle of svabhava - the individual nature of each thing, which determines its structure and destiny. This principle was adopted by Charvaka and supplemented by the doctrine of existence as a spontaneous combination of four elements: earth, water, fire, air. The ethical concept of Charvaka is characterized by the recognition of the concepts of good and evil as illusions created by the human imagination. Hence the denial of rituals, asceticism, and the affirmation that the goal of human existence is not virtue or liberation, but pleasure, although it is associated with suffering. Each system of Indian philosophy tried to refute the views of the Charvakas, but thereby found itself forced to struggle with its own dogmatism and take a more responsible approach to its theoretical constructs.

All philosophical schools in Ancient India are divided into two groups:

Orthodox schools mainly reproduce the ideas contained in the Upanishads. The key idea of ​​the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman (“Tat tvam asi” - “You are that”). Brahman– the impersonal world principle from which everything arises, exists, ceases to exist, the impersonal absolute, atman- individual spiritual essence, soul. Since Brahman is an impersonal absolute (as opposed to a religious God), meditation, rather than prayer, is used to connect with it (identify). Also, a number of teachings insist that to contemplate Brahman it is necessary to realize that the whole world is Maya– an illusion, the entire plurality of the world is Maya, only Brahman is real.

Charvaka(lokayata from “loko” - this world) is the only materialistic school. She denies the cause-and-effect relationship between present life and the future, i.e. denies the idea of ​​karma. From this it is concluded that future life no, just as there is no life after death. Those. we live once, so we should strive only for pleasure ( hedonism).

Jainism and Buddhism are, in fact, the main heterodox teachings, competing with each other. Both appeared around the same time (6th century BC), both were founded by kshatriyas (not brahmins). There are also a number of similarities, as well as very significant differences.

Jainism called by the name of the founder - Jina Mahavira (Jina - “winner”, Mahavira - “great hero”), real name - Vardhamana (599 - 527). Unlike the Upanishads, Jains recognize not a single principle underlying the world (monism), but a plurality of principles (pluralism). They have a rather interesting epistemology: the soul is initially perfect and has omniscience, but karma prevents this from manifesting itself, making our knowledge relative. They distinguish 5 levels of knowledge:

mother– sensory cognition;

shruti– cognition mediated by symbols;

Avadhi– clairvoyance as seeing from the outside. Just like the previous types, it is erroneous (you can mistake a snake in the dark for a rope).

manah-parya– clairvoyance as seeing an object from within itself. It is not subject to error.

kevala– omniscience, i.e. seeing an object from all sides and points of view at once. To open it, you need to free yourself from karma.

But Jains place the greatest emphasis on ethics. She is very strict. Since karma is understood by them as a material force, in order to dispel it, it is necessary to lead a strict ascetic lifestyle with mandatory observance ahimsa(it reached the point of absurdity). Celibacy is a must. Gina himself considered wearing clothes to be heresy. Subsequently, Jainism split into two directions: digambaras(“clad by air”) and Svetambara(dressed in white"). The former believed that a woman could not achieve liberation, the latter believed that she could. The extreme asceticism of Jainism is expressed in the fact that starvation is considered the path to nirvana. Nirvana itself is understood as a state of eternal bliss (unlike Buddhists). Jainism still exists, but is not very widespread.

Buddhism- the only ancient Indian teaching that has become a world religion. It was founded in the 6th century. BC. Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni (c. 583 - 483), son of one of the North Indian princes. According to legend, his mother died shortly after his birth, and his father tried to protect him from all misfortunes behind the high fence of the palace. So Siddhartha grew up in prosperity, unaware of the presence of suffering in the world, until one day he went outside the palace and saw one day a beggar, sick with ulcers, a decrepit old man and a funeral procession. This is how he learned that suffering exists. This shocked him so much that he left the palace and became an apprentice to an ascetic. Then he engaged in self-torture for seven years, but almost died from exhaustion and realized that this path did not lead to nirvana, just like the path of hedonism. Thus was born the basis of the future ethics of Buddhism - the idea middle way. Under the sacred Bodhi tree, Siddhartha stood Buddha- “enlightened.” In his famous Benares Sermon in Deer Park, which was listened to by five disciples and two deer, Buddha expounded 4 noble truths:

life is suffering;

the cause of suffering is our desires;

liberation from desires leads to the cessation of suffering;

there is a path to the end of suffering, and this path is indicated by the Buddha.

Buddhism offers 8 noble precepts as the path to nirvana ( eightfold path):

correct judgment;

right determination;

correct speech (denial of lies);

right behavior (ahimsa);

correct lifestyle;

right effort;

right attention;

correct concentration.

What is new compared to other teachings in Buddhism is:

Denial of the value of the feat, i.e. as a path to nirvana, a natural, normal way of life without extremes is welcomed - asceticism and hedonism (the middle path), which has led to the wide popularity of Buddhism.

Silence in response to questions about the origin and structure of the world, life after death, etc., because What is important to a person is not knowledge of the world, but only the path to enlightenment.

Specific understanding of the law of causality: denial of the presence of an original single essence and denial of the soul ( anatmavada). The soul is not an essence, but a combination of various states, therefore in Buddhism there is no person as a subject of rebirth, there is a life process (santana), which at some moments is interrupted, which we perceive as death, although this is illusory (like a change of frames in a cartoon). This is the main feature of the ontology of Buddhism.

The understanding of nirvana as nothing (nothing to be reborn), different from the Jain understanding of nirvana.

Within the Buddhist community ( sangha) varn division was denied.

Buddha preached for 40 years and during this time he made more than 80 thousand sayings, captured in sutras(from Sanskrit “thread”) – aphorisms or collections of aphorisms that reflect the essence of the philosophical worldview. Nevertheless, there was no single body of texts in Buddhism, because for Buddha himself, the word was only a sign that did not express the truth (he did not write anything down). Accordingly, Buddhism initially did not represent a single school or religion and soon split into two main directions:

Theravada(the teaching of the elders) = Hinayana("small chariot"). It is characterized by gradual self-improvement, mandatory completion of all stages, monasticism, alienation from any form of organization or cult, and emphasized individualism. The ideal is arhat.

Mahayana(“great vehicle”): lush cult, emphasis on collective enlightenment (the practice of reading sutras for the purpose of instant enlightenment is common), a monastery is not required. Characteristic idea the identities of samsara and nirvana(to find yourself in nirvana, you need to realize that you are already there). The ideal is bodhisattva- a saint who reached nirvana, but did not go there, but stayed to help others get there.

Other trends in Buddhism subsequently developed: Vajrayana(“diamond chariot”) = Tantra– in Tibet, Mongolia, Kalmykia; Chan Buddhism(in China), in Japan – zen buddhism. Despite the fact that during the Maurya dynasty Buddhism was the state religion in India, it did not take root in India itself as it did not fit into its cultural traditions.

Approximately in the sixth century BC, a separate science - philosophy - appeared, due to inexplicable and mysterious circumstances, which simultaneously arose in different and opposite places of the continent - Ancient Greece, India and Ancient China. From there, the development of human nirvas occurs through a different explanation of mythological concepts about cultures. This period of development of philosophical teachings, in the indicated centers of civilizations, shapes modern history and a different interpretation of mythology, a rethinking of former values ​​and thoughts.

Philosophy in India marked the beginning of the emergence of philosophical Indian knowledge, which arose BC in the middle of the 1st millennium. The initial “steps” of man in an attempt to comprehend himself, the world around him and outer space, living and inanimate nature, led to progress in the development of the human mind, awareness and reason, contributed to evolution and differentiation from nature.

Understanding the connection between general culture and the circumstances and events of a past era lies in the very essence of philosophy. The game of the mind, thinking in abstract concepts and the spiritual power of rational-conceptual comprehension of the root causes of all things, which has a global impact on the global course of events, is philosophy.

Taking part in the formation of social ideals, value-worldview and methodological principles, philosophy reminds a person of the social and practical importance of common ideas about the world, raising the question before the thinker about the moral principles of existence. Close in spirit, the eastern philosophies of India and China had common points and significant differences, which had an important influence on the development of the cultures of India and China, as well as the peoples in contact with them.

A brief summary of Ancient Indian philosophy will tell you about many events of the era, about the interests and faith of other peoples, giving an excellent chance to enrich your own horizons. The foundation of Indian philosophy is occupied scriptures– Vedas and Upanishads (notes) to the Vedas. In Indo-Aryan eastern culture, these texts represent the oldest monument of knowledge and teachings accumulated over all times. There are suggestions that the Vedas were not created by anyone, but always existed as truth, due to which the sacred scriptures did not contain erroneous information. Most of them are composed in Sanskrit, a mystical and perfect language. It is believed that with the help of Sanskrit, the universe comes into contact with man, showing the path to God. Cosmic truths are presented in partial records of the Vedas. The adapted part of the scriptures "Smriti", including the Mahabharata and Ramayana, is recommended for people who are not so gifted such as workers, women and representatives of lower castes, while the other part of the Vedas - "Shrudi", is feasible only for initiates.

Vedic period of Indian philosophy

The key source of information about the Vedic stage is the Vedas (translated from Sanskrit "Veda" - "knowledge", "teaching" or "knowledge").

The philosophy of Ancient India includes three stages:

1. Vedic – 15th – 5th centuries BC;
2. Classical – 5th -10th centuries BC;
3. Hindu - from the 10th century BC.

But in this article you will learn about the Vedic period, the most significant and absolute. Since ancient times, Indian philosophy has continuously taken root and shaped the values ​​of society. According to established traditions, the Vedas include four collections of Vedic literature, later enriched with explanations and additions of ritual, magical and philosophical orders (prayers, magic spells, hymns and chants):

1. "Samhitas";
2. "Brahmins";
3. "Aranyaki";
4. "Upanishads".

The gods differed from people in their omniscience, according to the Vedas, so knowledge was “recognized” and “seen” because it was endowed with a visual nature. This division reflects the historical sequence of development of Indian literature. The oldest collection is the Samhitas, while the last three collections are the resulting explanation, commentary on the Vedas and their additions. As a result, in the subtle literary sense, the Samhitas are the Vedas. Thus, the Samhitas include 4 original hymns: Rig Veda (authoritarian knowledge), Sama Veda (Veda of chants), Yajur Veda (scriptures on sacrifices) and Atharva Veda (knowledge of magic spells), borrowing texts from the Rig Veda. Scientists studying Indian philosophical teachings believe that during the formation of the Indian Vedas, throughout the valley of the majestic Ganges River, society was divided into classes, but this could not be called slave ownership. The social difference between people only increased social inequality, and marked the beginning of the organization of varnas or castes (differences in position in society, privileges and roles): brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas and sudras. The Brahmins were priests; Kshatriyas - warriors who made up the highest social castes; Vaishyas were artisans, farmers and traders; Shudras - represented the lowest classes - servants and hired workers. Next, the Indian state arose. The Upanishads reflected the deepest reflection in the philosophical views of Ancient India.

Upanishads

The main philosophical part of the Vedas are the Upanishads. The literal translation from Sanskrit “upa-ni-shad” means “sitting at the feet of the teacher.” The Upanishads are a hidden teaching that cannot be made public to a large number of people. The text contained in the Upanishads is a statement of heterogeneous philosophical reflections in which a number of issues can be emphasized: adhiyajna (sacrifice), adhyatma (human microcosm) and adhidaivata (deified macrocosm); questions: “What is the position of the sun at night?”, “Where are the stars during the day?” and others. In the Upanishads, the central element is the parallels between the phenomena of the micro- and macrocosm, the idea of ​​the unity of the existing. The hidden and deep foundations of the microcosm “Atman” and the macrocosm “Brahman” are revealed, the study of conditionality and expressions. The basis of the Upanishads is generated by the external and internal aspects of existence, focusing on human comprehension of knowledge and moral improvement, posing the characteristic questions of the Upanishads - “Who are we, where did we come from and where are we going?” The essence of being in the Upanishads is designated “Brahman” - the beginning of everything spiritual, the universal and faceless soul of the universe, reviving the universe. “Brahman” is identical, but opposite to “Atman” - the individual principle of the spiritual “I”. “Brahman” is the highest objective principle, while “Atman” is subjective and spiritual. There is a dharma connection here about Samsara and Karma - about the cycle of life, eternal rebirth and the rule of compensation. Understanding a person’s future occurs through awareness of one’s behavior and actions committed in previous lives. Therefore, leading a decent lifestyle represents the future and rebirth in the upper castes or departure to the spiritual world. For unrighteous behavior in the current life, leads to future incarnations in the lower classes, and the “Atman” can be reborn into the body of an animal. the main task Upanishad - moksha or liberation from material wealth and spiritual self-improvement. Each person is the “smith” of his own happiness and his destiny is shaped by his real actions - this is the philosophy of the Upanishads.

Philosophical schools of ancient India

The whole philosophy of India is based on systems. The emergence of philosophical schools began in the sixth century BC. Schools were divided into:

• "Astika" - orthodox schools based on the authority of the Vedas. These included the schools: Mimamsa, Vedanta, Yoga, Samkhya, Nyaya and Vaisheshika;
• "Nastika" - unorthodox schools that refute the treatises of the Vedas for lies. These included schools: Jainism, Buddhism and Charvaka Lokayata.

Let's take a brief look at each of the orthodox schools:

1. Mimamsa or Purva Mimamsa (first) - founded by the ancient Indian sage Jaimini (3rd-1st centuries BC) and included: research, analysis, interpretation and reflection on the sacred scriptures;
2. Vedanta - compiled by the sage Vyasa (about 5 thousand years ago), the main goal relied on self-awareness, the individual’s understanding of his original nature and truth;
3. Yoga - founded by the sage Patanjali (in the 2nd century BC), aims to improve the human spirit through the practice of unifying body and mind, followed by liberation (moksha);
4. Sankhya - founded by the sage Kapila, the school is aimed at abstracting the spirit (purusha) from matter (prakriti);
5. Nyaya - and the laws of logic, according to which the external world exists independently of knowledge and reason. Objects of knowledge: our “I”, body, feelings, mind, rebirth, suffering and liberation;
6. Vaisheshika - founded by the sage Kanada (Uluka) (3-2 centuries BC), which is at the same time an opponent and supporter of Buddhist phenomenalism. Recognizing Buddhism as the source of knowledge and perception, but denying the truth of the facts of soul and substance.

Let's take a brief look at each of the unorthodox schools:

1. Jainism is translated from Sanskrit as “winner”, a dharmic religion, the founder of whose teachings is Jina Mahavira (8-6 centuries BC). The school's philosophy is based on self-improvement of the soul to achieve nirvana;
2. Buddhism - formed in the 5th-1st centuries BC, the teachings of the school assumed 4 truths: 1 - life is like suffering, 2 - the causes of which are desires and passions, 3 - deliverance occurs only after renouncing desires, 4 - through a series of rebirths and deliverance from the bonds of Samsara;
3. Charvaka-lokayata - materialistic atheistic teaching and low view. The universe and all things arose naturally, without the intervention of otherworldly forces, thanks to 4 elements: earth, water, fire and air.

The philosophy of Ancient India was deeply traditionalist, it was formed as a result of the isolation of the intellectual side of the religious-mythological ritual and almost always maintained a close connection with the religious-mythological elements of the culture of Ancient India. In the VI - V centuries. BC in India, along with philosophical schools that did not reject the authority of the Vedas (sacred mythologized knowledge that included tribal beliefs and customs, as well as the ritual practice of an archaic society), a number of schools appeared that were critical of the Vedas. Vedic stories tried to show the boundaries of the world in which man acts.

Based on the work of art, the picture of the world and the universe became clear. 3 triloka worlds: Agnew - the head of the family, Surya - Sky and Inda - air.

On the basis of these orthodox and unorthodox movements, the main philosophical systems of India later took shape and developed, which, in particular, include Vedanta, Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Samkhya, yoga, Buddhism, etc.

Man is the creation of the Gods. The first man is Purusha (son of the God of Heaven = Manu). Manu was credited with creating the first laws for people.

Man, as a child of nature, represents the unity of the natural, spiritual, and divine. The human self is body and soul. A person is elevated by intelligence and knowledge, valued both in gods and in people.

Reflection on the content of Vedic hymns leads to the emergence of philosophy. Initially (IX-VI centuries BC) philosophy appeared in the form of “Upanshiad” (literally meaning “to sit near”) - the transfer of knowledge from teacher to student. All deities now appear to be only manifestations (emanations) of a single god. Brahman-atman is both a deity and a certain unified essence of the whole world. The Upanshyads have been written down over centuries. The concept of a certain world pattern (dharma), as well as the concept of transmigration of souls (samsara) and retribution for past deeds (karma) was formed. It also talks about how a person should live: mastery of oneself, one’s feelings, one’s body. One who has achieved the Atman is free from passion, greed and other shortcomings, and has virtues.

“Manabharata” is a poem about the war and the collision of 2 worlds, where the leader of the pandala (tribe) meets the charioteer of his chariot (Cherry). Krishna is the son of God, he is wise, contributed to the victory.

The principle of yoga means liberation from suffering.

Schools of Ancient Indian Philosophy:

Jainism;

Charvak;

Sankhya;

Vedanta.

In these schools the doctrine of man is formulated. In Indian philosophy, man is at the center of philosophy. Indian philosophy – measure of order – Cosmos. It represents a spiritual principle, which can be called consciousness, spirit, which are discrete. Schools argued that nature is the original beginning, it is material.

The philosophy of Ancient India posed the question: whether there is a beginning or not.

This leads to the 6th century. BC. to the emergence of the first religious and philosophical doctrine - Buddhism (derived from Buddha, the son of the king of the Indian tribe Guatama). Buddha was supposed to live in the Palace. After going beyond it, he met an old man, a cripple, and a funeral procession. All this amazed him so much that Heaven opened to him.

He outlined the commandments:

Life is suffering;

The cause of suffering is life with its branches and desires;

Getting rid of suffering is immersion in nirvana 9 complete liberation from one’s own self.

Further development of the philosophy of Buddhism leads to a logical conclusion - the doctrine of karma.

Karma - every living being contains it; she is his own cause, refuge; leads to bliss, a satisfactory state.

A person’s desires determine the qualities of karma and constantly renew and support the process of reincarnation.

Karma is the essence of a person, what catches up with him. Buddha says that you need to live your life honestly and purely.

Features of Indian philosophy:

1. Indian philosophy is fundamentally not personified (there is not a single name). Refusal of priority, of one’s personal contribution - anonymity.

2. Philosophy is manifested, but it is not separated from religious practice. It is syncretic (connected with art, ethics).

3. Philosophy is directed inside a person. This is the philosophy of spiritual rebirth.

Philosophy Dr. The East represents integral knowledge about nature, society, knowledge. Based on the mythological religious foundations of ancient Eastern states.

The picture of the world is presented ambiguously religiously, but naturally scientifically. It is important that the focus of the sages in philosophy was man, as a part of nature.

The problem of primary substance in ancient Greek philosophy: Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Heraclitus.

Ancient philosophy arose in the Greek city-states at the turn of the 7th – 6th centuries. BC e. Social prerequisites that determined the specificity of philosophy Ancient Greece, were: a high degree of social dynamism compared to the traditional societies of the East; democratic form of government and trade and craft relations, which contributed to the transition of ancient Greek society to commodity-money economic relations.

Philosophy - as a science - as a system - as wisdom first appeared in ancient Greece. Is this where philosophy is placed? about the relationship between thinking and being, the recognition of the world (basic? philosophy).

At the same time, at the center of Greek philosophy was man, as the most important value. Man is like a microcosm, where a huge amount of origin is concentrated. Man is the least knowable.

Distinctive features of the philosophical thought of Ancient Greece were, first of all, ontologism and cosmologism. Ontologism consisted in the stable orientation of philosophical thinking towards comprehending the essence and structure of being as such, as well as (in contrast to the mythological tradition) in the formation of a system of categories as logical means of knowing being: “substance”, “one-many”, “being-non-being” and etc. Cosmologism (kosmos - organized world, loqos - teaching), which expressed a stable tendency towards demythologization of the world, consisted in the creation of a number of alternative models of the Cosmos as a structurally organized and ordered whole. In the early stages of the development of ancient philosophy, interest in the origin of the Cosmos, its genesis, prevailed. The classical period is characterized by the development of models of the cosmic process, which emphasize the problems of its essence and structure.

In the 6th century. D.N. e. A classical society emerges on the territory of Asia Minor, the first schools, philosophical schools, founded on the principle of discussion clubs, arise.

Ontology is the doctrine of being. On the? Physicists were the first to try to answer that existence exists. Thales tried to answer this?. In the 6th century. D.N. e. had an idea of ​​why there are ebbs and flows, what a constellation is, the sign of the number P.

What is the first principle has interested many thinkers. At the center is man as a subject of knowledge.

Miletsky School of Asia:

In the 6th century. D.N. e. Thales substantiated water as the primary substance - from it everything arises and ends in nature;

Anaximander is based on ether. He knew the cause of earthquakes, the world arose from chaos;

Anaximenes meant air as a starting point.

These ideas were naive, naturally scientific in nature.

Heraclitus of Ephesus, the father of dialectics, says that fire is the basis of everything - there is a primary substance, an eternal process. Everything that exists is movement. He wrote that space was, and will always be, an element that either sunbathes or fades. Fire should not be understood as flame. Heraclitus speaks of perpetual motion. Philosophers of later times believed that Heraclitus stands aside and does not see the movement.

Heraclitus - everything flows, panta rei. The movement of dialectics is movement, connection, development.

The primary substance is not something that is visible, not tangible, not material. She's taller.

The world of Plato's ideas.

Plato (427 - 347 BC) is the greatest philosopher of Ancient Greece, a student of Socrates, the founder of his own philosophical school - the Academy, the founder of the idealistic trend in philosophy. Plato is the first ancient Greek philosopher who left behind a number of fundamental philosophical works, the most important of which are “Apology of Socrates”, “Parmelides”, “Gorgias”, “Phaedo”, “State”, “Laws”. Most of Plato's works are written in the form of dialogues.

Plato is the founder of the idealistic direction of philosophy. Plato is the founder of idealism. The main tenets of his idealistic teaching are the following:

Material things are changeable, impermanent and cease to exist over time;

The surrounding world (“the world of things” is also temporary and changeable and in reality does not exist as an independent substance;

In reality, only pure (incorporeal) ideas (eidos) exist;

Pure (incorporeal) ideas are true, eternal and permanent;

Any existing thing is just a material reflection of the original idea (eidos) of a given thing (for example, horses are born and die, but they are only the embodiment of the idea of ​​a horse, which is eternal and unchanging, etc.);

The whole world is a reflection of pure ideas (eidos).

In the theory of knowledge, Plato is an agnostic; he denies knowledge of the essence of things, the sensory world. Knowledge is the recollection of the soul. The soul remembers the world of ideas, where it resided before it emerged in the world of the real, sensual. In this sense, his teaching echoes the teachings that the human soul is immortal.

Plato's world of ideas. Ideas are arranged in the form of a pyramid. The foot is the ideas of things (the idea of ​​a cat, a tree, etc.). Next are the ideas of genera, classes of things. Above are classes of classes. Etc. At the top are three ideas: truth, goodness and beauty (proportionality). To combine them, the concept of “good” is introduced. As the beginning of non-existence, Plato introduces the concept of matter. Matter is the beginning of chaos, disorder. The world of ideas is a structural order. From matter, according to the world of ideas, the sensory world is built and ordered. Hypostases of the world of ideas: reason, pattern, goal, concept (knowledge). (Russell: every cat is internally aimed at expressing the idea of ​​catness, but since it is made of perishable matter, it is doomed to perish.) Plato introduces an indefinite 3rd principle - the world soul. This is some sculptor (god). Sculpting is based on geometric figures (mathematics).

Man differs from other living beings in that he has a soul, the individuality of which is an idea. (Before the birth of man, it existed in the world of ideas). This enables Plato to explain knowledge.

The historical significance of Plato's philosophy is that:

For the first time, a philosopher left a whole collection of fundamental works;

The beginning was made of idealism as a major philosophical trend (the so-called “Plato’s line” - the opposite of the materialistic “Democrat’s line”);

The foundations of conceptual thinking were laid, an attempt was made to identify philosophical categories (being - becoming, eternal - temporary, stationary - moving, indivisible - divisible, etc.);

A philosophical school (Academy) was created, which existed for about 1000 years, where many prominent followers of Plato grew up (Aristotle, etc.).

Plato's Academy is a religious and philosophical school created by Plato in 387 in the nature of Athens and which existed for about 1000 years (until 529 AD). The most famous students of the academy were: Aristotle (he studied with Plato, founded his own philosophical school - the Lyceum), Xenocritus, Kraket, Arxilaus. Clitomachus of Carthage, Philo of Larissa (teacher of Cicero). The Academy was closed in 529 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian as a hotbed of paganism and “harmful” ideas, but during its history it managed to ensure that Platonism and Neoplatonism became the leading directions of European philosophy.

Philosophy of Democritus.

Democritus - (460 BC - 370 BC) - ancient Greek materialist philosopher, one of the founders of atomism and materialism.

According to this teaching, everything that happens is the movement of atoms, which differ in shape and size, place and arrangement, are in empty space in perpetual motion, and thanks to their connection and separation, things and worlds arise and come to destruction.

The world, according to Democritus, is based on two principles - atoms and emptiness. "Atomos" is translated from Greek as "indivisible." Democritus considered atoms to be the smallest, indivisible particles that rush around in the void and differ from each other only in shape, size and position. Atoms are numerically infinite. Atoms are uncreated and indestructible. They are not perceived by the senses, they are intelligible. There is not an ounce of sensuality in atoms (no color, no smell). Their difference is quantitative in nature, in extreme cases – geometric. Atoms differ from each other in shape, position and order.

Colliding and interlocking with each other, they form bodies and things that we deal with in everyday life. Democritus believed that we perceive the things around us with the help of our senses, while atoms are comprehended by our minds.

The proof of the existence of emptiness by Democritus and the atomists in general boils down to the fact that, firstly, without emptiness movement would not be possible, since something filled cannot absorb something else into itself; secondly, its existence is indicated by the presence of processes such as compaction and condensation, which are possible only if there are empty spaces between bodies and their parts. Emptiness is absolutely homogeneous and can exist both containing bodies and without them. Moreover, it exists both outside bodies, containing them within itself, separating them from each other, and inside complex bodies, separating their parts from each other. Only atoms do not contain emptiness, which explains their absolute density - there is nowhere to insert a blade to cut an atom or split it.

As for the number of atoms in the world, Democritus recognizes it as infinite. And therefore, emptiness must also be infinite, because finite space cannot contain an infinite number of atoms and an infinite number of worlds consisting of them. It is difficult to say what is the first assumption here - the infinity of the number of atoms or the infinity of emptiness. Both are based on the argument that both the number of atoms and the size of the void are “no more such than another.” This argument also extends to the number of forms of atoms, which, according to Democritus, is also infinite.

His teachings illuminated the social world and history. He replied that society arose from nature. Culture arose as an imitation of nature. To create a society, people began to agree among themselves and establish a certain hierarchy. All people are equal by nature, except for enemies, they must be brought up and educated.

The highest wisdom is philosophy, like a science, which gives people 3 gifts:

To speak well;

It's good to think;

It's good to act.

How to combine being and non-being (sensory, fixed world)? Democritus says that non-existence is emptiness, nothingness. Atoms, being is +, non-being is (-). Polarity arises, which makes it possible to introduce movement: atoms move into the void. By their movement, atoms create groups that a person perceives with his senses as things. That. being explains non-being, generates this non-being and explains it. The essence gives rise to the phenomenon. Being (the world of atoms) is a necessity; the world of things is the world of chance.

Randomness is something the essence of which we cannot know. A person knows at the level of his feelings (the beginning of the concept of sensationalism) - this is dark knowledge. Small objects emanate from things, which affect the senses. But dark knowledge is knowledge only of the world of chance (i.e., the world of non-existence). Light knowledge is knowledge with the mind. The mind overcomes dark knowledge, starting from it to understand the world of atoms.

The subject here is a contemplator, possessing dark and light knowledge. He cognizes the cosmos, which is outside of him (man himself is not included in this cosmos). If included, then only by reduction to this world. Essentially, Democritus provides the framework for constructing a scientific theory. The sensible world must be explained on the basis of some intelligible principles: in this case, atoms and voids. This theory lacks experiment.

The teachings of Democritus were highly appreciated by his contemporaries and developed by Plato, Lucretius, and later by Lomonosov and Mendeleev.

Aristotle's philosophy, its significance for European culture.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher of the classical period, student of Plato, educator of Alexander the Great.

Considering the problem of being, Aristotle criticized the philosophy of Plato, according to which the surrounding world was divided into the “world of things” and the “world of pure (incorporeal ideas), and the “world of things” as a whole, like each thing separately, was only a material reflection corresponding "pure idea".

Plato’s mistake, according to Aristotle, is that he separated the “world of ideas” from the real world and considered “pure ideas” without any connection with the surrounding reality, which has its own characteristics - extension, rest, movement, etc.

Aristotle gives his interpretation of this problem:

There are no “pure ideas” that are not associated with the surrounding reality, the reflection of which is all things and objects of the material world;

Only singular and concretely defined things exist;

These things are called individuals (translated as “indivisible”), that is, there is only a specific horse in a specific place, and not the “idea of ​​a horse”, the embodiment of which this horse is, a specific chair located in a specific place and having its own characteristics, and not “idea of ​​a chair”, a concrete house with precisely defined parameters, and not “idea of ​​a house”, etc.;

Individuals are the primary entity, and the types and genera of individuals (horses in general, houses in general, etc.) are secondary.

Since being is not “pure ideas” (“eidos”) and their material reflection (“things”), the question arises: what is being?

Aristotle tries to give an answer to this question (what is being) through statements about being, that is, through categories (translated from ancient Greek - statements).

Aristotle identifies 10 categories that answer the question posed (about being), and one of the categories says what being is, and the other 9 give its characteristics. These categories are:

Essence (substance);

Quantity;

Quality;

Attitude;

Position;

State;

Action;

Suffering.

In other words, according to Aristotle, being is an entity (substance) that has the properties of quantity, quality, place, time, relationship, position, state, action, suffering.

A person, as a rule, is able to perceive only the properties of being, but not the essence. Also, according to Aristotle, categories are the highest reflection and generalization of the surrounding reality, without which existence itself is unthinkable.

Logos: essence = phenomenon; cause = effect; form = content; quantity = quality. This all constitutes thinking, which constitutes logos. Everything is in a chaotic state, order is called logic. Logos is thinking in concepts.

in this regard, he creates logic and considers it first wisdom.

According to Aristotle, cognition is a product of sensory perception and rational thinking; in cognition the subject perceives real things.

Aristotle's most famous works include: "Organon", "Physics", "Mechanics", "Metaphysics", "On the Soul", "History of Animals", "Nicomachean Ethics", "Rhetoric", "Politics", "Athenian Polity" , "Poetics".

He first formulated the philosophy of society. He speaks of laws lowered from above.

The cycle of politics, where he formulated the idea of ​​the difference of powers. In Athens, laws and the judiciary were separated.

Aristotle also formed the new modern European education system:

Skole (scholasticism0;

Gymnasium;

Academy.

This is a fairly large system where capable students were selected and passed through all levels.

Aristotle is the founder of logic; created an education system that existed in Europe until the 17th century; the founder of political science, formulated the principles of power, domination, described 156 states; formulated the foundations of ethics.

Philosophy of the Middle Ages in the system of Christian culture.

The Middle Ages is a period of European history, occupying a period of time from the 5th to the 15th centuries. Medieval thinking was essentially theocentric. The idea of ​​creation was the basis of medieval ontology, and the idea of ​​revelation formed the foundation of the doctrine of knowledge. History was understood by medieval thinkers as the implementation of God's predetermined plan for the salvation of man. The symbolism of medieval thinking, based primarily on the Holy Scriptures and its interpretations, was carefully developed.

By 11 a.m. e. In the Roman Empire in Western Europe, the Christian Church was established, which over time became the only state religion, which in turn exercised a monopoly on unanimity, which extended to all culture, science, and philosophy. Science becomes completely the servant of theology. Every scientific discovery and thought must be consistent with the ideals of Christianity.

Medieval thinking and worldview were determined by two different traditions: Christian revelation, on the one hand, and ancient philosophy, on the other.

If the medieval worldview is theocentric. Its dominant idea is the idea of ​​God. It is not nature and the cosmos that determine everything that exists in the world, but the supernatural principle - God. Nature, man, and society depend entirely on it. God is a person who exists above this world.

The uniqueness of the philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages lay in its close connection with religion. Church dogma was the starting point and basis of philosophical thinking. The content of philosophical thought acquired a religious form.

The idea of ​​the real existence of a supernatural principle (God) makes one look at the world, the meaning of history, human goals and values ​​from a special angle. The idea of ​​creation lies at the heart of the medieval worldview. Christian philosophy seeks to comprehend the internal personal mechanisms of evaluation - conscience, religious motive, self-consciousness. The orientation of a person's whole life to the salvation of the soul is a new value preached by Christianity.

For a medieval thinker, the starting point for theorizing is the text of Holy Scripture. This text is the source of truth and the final explanatory authority. The thinker sets as his task not the analysis and criticism of the text, but only its interpretation. The text, consecrated by tradition, in which not a word can be changed, arbitrarily rules the thought of the philosopher, sets its limit and measure.

The style of philosophical thinking of the Middle Ages is distinguished by the desire for impersonality. Many works of this era have reached us anonymously. The medieval philosopher does not speak in his own name, he argues in the name of "Christian philosophy."

In general, the philosophy of the Middle Ages substantiated the possibility of personal salvation, resurrection from the dead, the final triumph of the truths of Christianity on a cosmic scale, and was optimistic in spirit.

It was believed that the world was created by God not for the sake of man, but for the sake of the Word, the second Divine hypostasis, the embodiment of which on earth was Christ in the unity of Divine and human nature.

Since the Word lay at the basis of creation and, accordingly, was common to everything created, it predetermined the birth of the problem of universals.

The problem of universals is a dispute about the relationship between individual things and general concepts, a dispute about whether general concepts have objective content or not, and if so, in what form. Universals characterize genera or species (“man,” “animal,” “fetus”). Two trends emerged in the dispute:

Realism (from Latin realis - real);

Nominalism (from Latin nomen - name, denomination).

Extreme realists adhered to Plato's doctrine of ideas, the essence of which is that the general (ideas) exist before and outside individual things.

Extreme nominalists argued that universals do not exist in reality, but only in thought. Only individual things have real existence, and universals are the names of things.

According to Plato, the idea of ​​“secularity” existed before specific tables and exists beyond them.

The main thesis of nominalism was formulated by the cynic Antisthenes, who, criticizing Plato's ideas, argued that they have no real existence and are only in the mind.

Scholasticism becomes the main methodological principle of education, which is based on Aristotle's speculative logic.

The emergence of a different education system was based on Christianity. Scientists, future scientists, were educated at theological universities Western Europe, and also studied in schools at monasteries and churches.

Specifics of the philosophy of monotheism. F. Aquinas.

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) is one of the most prominent representatives of mature scholasticism, a student of the famous medieval theologian Albertus Magnus. Like his teacher, Thomas tried to substantiate the basic principles of Christian theology, relying on the teachings of Aristotle.

By being, Thomas means the Christian God who created the world, as is narrated in the Old Testament.

He formulated a new Christian philosophy, according to which the whole world has a created character (creationism is the principle that underlies being, creatio is creation, creation).

His goal is to establish the truth of the Christian religion with arguments addressed to the reader.

Human individuality is the personal unity of soul and body. The soul has the life-giving power of the human body. It is immaterial and self-existent: it is a substance that finds its completeness only in unity with the body. Corporality has essential significance: it is through it that the soul can form what a person is. Thomas adhered to the idea of ​​the immortality of the soul.

The only creator is God the Father of knowledge - the manifestation of the divine in man, but knowledge of the world is not given to man. Knowledge is possible only through faith. Faith is knowledge.

Man in the Thomistic system consists of 2 parts: man and beast, where man is from God, and the bodily is from the animal. The meaning of life lies in asceticism.

Thomas Aquinas tries to prove that Scripture is science. He believes that it is possible, by exploring the physical world, to logically prove the existence of God. He tried to scientifically prove the existence of God.

Proof in five ways:

1. Movement - comes to the root cause, which is motionless, but moves everything. If the world exists, then it has its beginning. If there is a beginning, then there is a creator. It can be super-force, super-push. Once formed, everything exists.

2. The primary producing cause is the uncreated substance to which everything corresponds. If there is a movement, then it arose once. The living world grows and changes, seas are formed, everything in nature changes. Only the Almighty can give movement. Only the Lord can do this.

3. If there is some beauty, then it changes. She can only be compared with the Almighty.

4. Degrees of perfection: there is some being that is the cause

goodness and all perfection is God. Everything that exists was created by God, and does not have to have physical articles. We are talking about God the Father. Christ is the God-man, the son of the Lord, who came to Earth to show the power of creation.

5. All objects in nature are subject to some expediency, but it

subordinates to some higher goal - the goal of a higher being. This point of view has a philosophical status, since it reflects a picture of the world based on the Christian monoatheistic religion, where creationism plays a significant role.

The principle of harmony of faith and reason was embodied in the five rational proofs of the existence of God developed by F. Aquinas. Since everything moves and changes, there must be a “prime mover”, a primary source, i.e. God. The world is diverse and perfect, therefore there is God as the highest perfection. According to F. Aquinas, since there is a goal in the living world, there must also be a source of purposefulness, i.e. God. Although there are accidents in the world, in general its development is of a natural nature, which comes from God. The world is unique and finite in space, but there is orderliness everywhere in it, that is, God.

These evidences have long been perceived as convincing, despite their one-sidedness, since they are evidence of only an abstract logical nature. However, the evidence given by F. Aquinas is still actively used by the church.

Thomas Aquinas tries to rank everything in the world. God – angels – man –

living organisms are inorganic nature.

Another problem discussed in medieval philosophy was the problem of the relationship between general, abstract concepts and concrete concepts that reflect individual things. During its discussion, two directions emerged - realism and nominalism.

Nominalism (I. Roscellin, W. Occam) believed that the general exists only in the human mind (there is an individual horse, but there is no “horseness”). By belittling the importance of general concepts, nominalism questioned the universal, extremely abstract concept of “God,” for which it was persecuted by the church.

Realism (F. Aquinas), on the contrary, asserted the reality of general ideas, and considered individual things and the concepts corresponding to them to be derivatives of general ones.

The historical significance of the concept created by F. Aquinas is that it substantiated the idea of ​​a possible compromise between science and religion, which received further development in a number of philosophical teachings, especially in the philosophical system of Hegel, Russian religious philosophy of the 19th–20th centuries, as well as in the modern religious philosophy of neo-Thomism.

Philosophy of the Renaissance, its main features. N. Kuzansky, G. Bruno, G. Galileo, N. Copernicus.

The transitional era between the Middle Ages and the New Age (XIV-XVI centuries) is called the Renaissance (or Renaissance).

The philosophy of the Renaissance is a set of philosophical trends that arose and developed in Europe in the 14th – 17th centuries, which were united by an anti-church and anti-scholastic orientation, a focus on man, faith in his great physical and spiritual potential, life-affirming and optimistic character.

The prerequisites for the emergence of Renaissance philosophy and culture were:

Improving tools and production relations;

The crisis of feudalism;

Development of crafts and trade;

Strengthening cities, turning them into trade, craft, military, cultural and political centers, independent of feudal lords and the Church;

Strengthening, centralization of European states, strengthening of secular power;

The emergence of the first parliaments;

Lagging behind life, crisis of the Church and scholastic (church) philosophy;

Increasing the level of education in Europe as a whole;

Great geographical discoveries (Columba, Vasco da Gama, Magellan);

Scientific and technical discoveries (invention of gunpowder, firearms, machine tools, blast furnaces, microscope, telescope, printing, discoveries in the field of medicine and astronomy, other scientific and technical achievements).

Characteristic features of Renaissance philosophy include:

Anthropocentrism and humanism - the predominance of interest in man, belief in his limitless capabilities and dignity;

Opposition to the Church and church ideology (that is, the denial not of religion itself, of God, but of an organization that has made itself a mediator between God and believers, as well as a frozen dogmatic philosophy serving the interests of the Church - scholasticism);

Shifting the main interest from the form of the idea to its content;

A fundamentally new, scientific-materialistic understanding of the surrounding world (spherical, not flat, Earth, rotation of the Earth around the Sun, and not vice versa, infinity of the Universe, new anatomical knowledge, etc.);

Great interest in social problems, society and the state;

The triumph of individualism;

Wide dissemination of the idea of ​​social equality.

The distinctive features of Renaissance philosophy include anthropocentrism, humanism, anti-scholastic orientation, and pantheism. The focus of the Renaissance was on man. For Renaissance philosophers, he was, first of all, a creator, creating a new world, creating beauty, and, finally, himself. The humanism of this historical era (recognition of man as an individual, assertion of his right to creativity, freedom and happiness) first appeared as an integral system of views. He opened an entire era of intense struggle between philosophy and scholasticism for a new style of philosophizing, reviving free dialogue and debate in the movement towards truth. In the Renaissance, philosophy again turns to the study of nature. The basis of her understanding was pantheism, which identified God and nature.

The main stages in the development of Renaissance philosophy are humanistic, neoplatonic and natural philosophical. The humanistic tradition, which began in the mid-14th century, contrasted medieval theocentrism with a deep interest in man. Neoplatonic tradition, starting from the middle of the 15th century. associated with the formulation and development of mainly ontological problems, with the systematization and development of Plato's teachings. The natural philosophical tradition (2nd half of the 16th century - beginning of the 17th century) was characterized by the desire to form a scientific worldview free of theology, to substantiate a materialistic view of the world, and to find experimental methods for substantiating a new cosmology.

NICHOLAY KUZANSKY- philosopher, theologian and scientist of the early Renaissance; church leader. Nikolai Kuzansky was a prominent mathematician of his time. He made a significant contribution to the development of mathematics, in particular, to solving the problem of squaring the circle and to infinitesimal calculus. Nikolai Kuzansky emphasized the methodological importance of mathematics for the knowledge of nature and proceeded from the need for the active use of quantitative characteristics (counting, measuring and weighing) in science, thereby acting as the forerunner of experimental natural science of the New Age. When solving complex theological and philosophical questions, he used mathematical analogies.

The central problem of N. Kuzansky's philosophy is the problem of the relationship between God and the world. But in contrast to the tradition of medieval Catholic theology, God was interpreted by him as an infinite single beginning and at the same time the hidden essence of everything, the world was presented as a world of finite things. Therefore, the problem of the relationship between the finite world, the world of finite things and their infinite essence was posed by N. Kuzansky as a philosophical problem. This problem was solved from a pantheistic position: God, understood as encompassing all that exists, contains the entire world.

Deep ideas were expressed by N. Kuzansky in the theory of knowledge. The main thing in his epistemology is the understanding of cognition as an endless process, which is explained by the infinity of the world itself. If the scholastics saw the goal of human knowledge in achieving the unchanging “divine truth,” then N. Kuzansky understood the process of achieving truth as an endless movement towards it. Knowledge can never stop; truth is inexhaustible.

Establishing reason and intuition as the basis of knowledge, N. Kuzansky opposed not only the scholastic theological tradition, but also the mysticism of medieval heresies that denied the possibilities human mind in knowledge of the world. A necessary condition for approaching the truth in the philosophy of N. Kuzansky is the path of mathematization of knowledge. This expressed a deep thought about the need to mathematize the process of cognition, which was of great importance for the creation of a new method of studying the world, opposite to scholastic knowledge.

The philosophical views of N. Kuzansky, including the dialectical content of his philosophy, were not immediately appreciated by his contemporaries. His ideas only in the 16th century. began to have a significant influence on the development of philosophical thought, primarily on the philosophy of Giorgiano Bruno. N. Kuzansky anticipated and prepared the Copernican revolution in astronomy, which eliminated the geocentrism of the Aristotle-Ptolemy picture of the world.

He fruitfully studied astronomy, his ideas prepared the doctrine of Giordano Bruno about the infinity of the Universe, about the existence of many inhabited worlds. Nikolai Kuzansky abandoned the foundations of the medieval worldview, according to which the universe is finite in space and the Earth is its center. He proposed a reform of the Julian calendar, which was implemented only after a century and a half, and compiled one of the first geographical maps of Central and Eastern Europe.

Pantheistic philosophy bruno was the highest result of the development of philosophical thought of the Renaissance, since it most deeply defined the main trends and features of the Renaissance: humanism, spontaneous dialectics, recognition of the greatness of nature. Bruno's pantheism is the most radical and consistent of all the natural philosophical systems of the Italian Renaissance, for he went further than his predecessors in posing and solving the most important problems.

One of the main conclusions arising from Bruno's pantheism is the assertion of the infinity of nature. If N. Cusansky’s doctrine of the infinity of the world was still semi-theological, then with Bruno it is formed as a doctrine only about nature. He developed an essentially materialistic concept of the Universe. The universe is one, material, infinite and eternal. Countless worlds lie beyond our solar system. What we see in front of us is only an insignificant particle of the Universe. The earth is a small speck of dust in the boundless expanses of the universe. Bruno, therefore, in his cosmological theory went further than Copernicus, who considered the world to be finite, and represented the Sun as the absolute center of the Universe. Bruno denies the existence of such a center.

Bruno's materialistic worldview, enclosed in a pantheistic shell, presupposes a single material principle possessing creative power as the basis of everything that exists. Unlike the scholastics and theologians, Bruno exalted nature, the material world, which generates countless forms of life from itself.

Nicolaus Copernicus is a Polish astronomer, mathematician and economist. He is best known as the one who developed the heliocentric system of the world in the Middle Ages. He made a revolution in natural science, abandoning the doctrine of the central position of the Earth, accepted for many centuries. He explained the visible movements of the celestial bodies by the rotation of the Earth around its axis and the revolution of the planets (including the Earth) around the Sun. He outlined his teaching in the work “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” (1543), which was banned by the Catholic Church from 1616 to 1828.

Galileo Galilei, famous Italian physicist, mechanic, astronomer, philosopher, philologist and poet. The name of Galileo is associated with the heroic defense of the heliocentric system of the world and the tragic struggle with the Jesuits and the Inquisition. Galileo is one of the pillars of the scientific revolution of modern times.